The Gallaghers at Cherry Top, Lilydale

This morning we visited our friends John and Lesley Gallagher and their daughter Jasmine who have a property called Cherry Top at Lilydale. It is a beautiful spot with great views of green hills and valleys. They offer accommodation facilities for tourists at Cherry Top.

We joined a group of Baha'i friends for a Feast that was hosted by the Gallaghers. They have a beautiful cat known as Tab-Tab that I photographed with Jasmine. Jasmine had carefully carved a pumpkin to decorate the living room for the Feast. Lesley used the flesh of the carved pumpkin to make some delicious pumpkin soup . The pumpkin soup was followed by apple crumble and vanilla icecream. Delicious!

Princes Square fountain

As I was driving down Charles Street in Launceston this morning, I noticed how beautiful the Princes Square fountain appeared in the morning sunlight. I quickly located a parking meter and walked over to the park. The leaves on the deciduous trees are just beginning to turn. I also liked the image of the reflection of the fountain in the goldfish pool.

Pan's Labyrinth

This evening we went to see the Spanish movie, Pan's Labyrinth. It is an excellent movie ... and as the poster indicates ... rich with darkness and wonder ...

Lexie Williams

We travelled on to Wynyard to visit a very good friend, Lexie Williams who for many years lived with her husband Harry and their family on a farm across the road from my parents at West Ridgley. Lexie was always a wonderful friend to my mother. They were both very active members of the Country Women's Association. Lexie still does a lot of knitting and crochet work. She showed us a beautiful, multi coloured rug that she had recently completed. The design is very intricate and one that we had not see before.

Emma and Dale Broomhall

We continued our journey to Burnie where we called to see our cousins Emma and Dale Broomhall. We had not seen them for more than two years so we enjoyed chatting about family. Dale and I also talked a bit about our primary school days when we both attended West Ridgley State School in the 1940s and early 1950s.

Visiting friends and relatives ... Telle Fisher

Today we spent the day visiting friends and relatives on the North West Coast. Our first stop was at Latrobe where we enjoyed the company of one of Noel's god mothers (she has two).
Telle Fisher is an amazing lady who is 90. She has recently passed her driving test. She is a wonderful role model for us as she continues to live independently, gardens and leads an active social life. She had made a fresh batch of delicious scones which we consumed along with cups of coffee as we sat and talked.

A Tasmanian Postcard

As I was searching through my postcard collection, I found this delightful card sending greetings from Tasmania.

Anzac Day

As it is Anzac day today in Australia and New Zealand I wanted to honour two men from my family who did not return from France during WW1. The two young men were Albert (Bob) Best and Abel Shires ... both from Wynyard. They were often remembered in conversations by my grand parents when I was growing up in the 40s and early 50s
One of my interests is collecting old postcards. I have some silk postcards in my collection that were sent by the young men who were fighting in France to their loved ones back here in Australia. I have one that was sent by Albert before he was killed. It is addressed from "Somewhere in France".

Caitlin

This evening one of our grand daughters joined us for dinner. She is a vegetarian and enjoys cooking. She arrived soon after school and assisted Noel to prepare some delicious veggie burgers for dinner. The burgers were very delicious. Caitlin recently had her photograph taken at school and she gave us a copy this evening.

A visit to Clarendon

As part of the Heritage Festival, there was an open day with many interesting activities at Clarendon House today. There were all kinds of market stalls, Morris dancers, brass band music, Jack Russell races ... which were great fun, an art exhibition and craft demonstrations including book binding and lace making. There was archery as well as croquet set up in the grounds.

We met several good friends including Hadie MacLeod (looking fabulous in a hat she had puchased from a stall) as we strolled around the beautiful grounds. The avenues of deciduous trees were beginning to turn and drop their leaves. I noticed a beautiful white dahlia in flower.

My Friend the Chocolate Cake

Tonight we attended a concert given by one of our favourite bands - My Friend the Chocolate Cake. What a fantastic concert it was too! It was a sell out performance - and as far as I know it is the first time they have ever performed in Launceston. Previously we have travelled to Hobart to hear them. Hopefully, they will return to Launceston now that they know that they have such a loyal and devoted following!!!

We purchased a copy of their latest album which is full of great music. We are delighted that included on the album is a translation of a string band song from Papua New Guinea. Since we lived in PNG in the 1960s and early 1970s we have always loved string band music.

32 years ago today ...

I was looking through some of our old paper documents and I found a copy of our local newspaper, 'The Examiner' of Saturday 19th April, 1975 with a photograph of our son Zachary on the front page.

Friday the 18th was a very special day for our family, as Zachary (known in the orphanage as Cyrus) was delivered to us as a result of one of the airlifts of war orphans from Vietnam. Three of the babies were adopted by families in Launceston. This newspaper photograph brings back memories of a very emotional but very happy time when we were presented at the airport with our new baby boy.

Caleb, Blaine and Hespa

Giraffes, zebras and a meerkat

The elephants

The elephant area at the zoo has been designed to feel as though one is entering a Thai village. It is imaginatively designed and the decorative details are beautiful.